If you monitor your weight loss progress, you probably look to your bathroom scale for feedback. Or perhaps you gauge pounds lost by how your clothes feel. While these visible indicators show you’re releasing weight, they don’t reveal the whole story. As any yo-yo dieter knows, these progress markers may come and go. Some other signs of success, however, aren’t so obvious, but once you achieve them they’re with you forever.

A healthy diet of encouraging words is just as important as a healthy diet of nutritious foods. Because your mind and body are connected, your body responds to your words and images. Your words can either uplift and lighten you or feel heavy and weigh you down.

dir="ltr">Promises for quick weight loss, various health claims and celebrity endorsements make fad diets seem like the best method for losing weight, but most of us know better. The recently popularized Werewolf Diet is just one of many options continuously taking center stage since the 1820’s. It promises followers up to a 6 pound weight loss in just 24 hours...

As you well know, February is the month of love! But as you're honoring friends, partners and loved ones with hearts, cards, and roses, I'm going to urge you also to honor your most important relationship: the one you have with your own body.

Most people realize they need more veggies, but tend to leave them out of their meals. They simply need a little help or encouragement to actually get them! Once people see how easily vegetables can be deliciously incorporated into their lives, they start to bump up their intake. You end up eating less of the heavy stuff and fill your stomach with the lower calorie, fiber-and nutrient packed veggies.

Happy New Year! Instead of making challenging resolutions (like losing those last 10 pounds or getting up for the gym every morning at 5:30 a.m.), I recommend starting the new year with a recommitment to your weight-loss plan and goals. In honor of 2014, here are 14 of my favorite ways to recommit—that have nothing to do with eating and working out.

With the holiday season now in full swing, weight-loss plans are often the first thing to be abandoned. The combination of schedule changes, added responsibilities and an abundance of available food can be potent. Are you worried you’ll overeat to cope with increased demands on your time? Do you dread visiting that one relative who grates on your nerves sending you for extra helpings to calm your anger? If you eat for emotional reasons, this added stress may feel especially challenging.

If you’re like most people struggling with their weight, you probably don’t like your body so much. You hate looking in the mirror. Getting dressed makes you frustrated and angry. And your thoughts toward your body are anything but loving. You know how lousy those thoughts make you feel, but do you realize that criticizing yourself actually undermines your weight loss efforts, too? Try replacing even a bit of that self-criticism with an attitude of gratitude and start losing the weight with ease.

Do cakes, ice cream, or chips hold power over you? Once you start eating them, is it hard to stop? Do attempts to enjoy just a single bite result in guilt-ridden overeating episodes? If so, it may be time to say good-bye to this love-hate relationship.

Weight stigma awareness involves recognizing, combating, and supporting those affected by weight stigma. You may see it as an outward campaign to help others, but it’s also important to examine if you hold a weight stigma toward yourself.

If you’ve ever been overweight, felt badly about your body, or felt as though carrying around excess weight (and body fat) was your fate, you’re likely to relate to—and be inspired by—the new book, The Shift: How I Finally Lost Weight and Discovered a Happier Life. Written by the popular “Deals & Steals” Good Morning America contributor, successful entrepreneur, and bestselling author Tory Johnson, The Shift takes readers on the author’s yearlong journey during which she lost more than 60 pounds and gained a new sense of confidence and self-respect.

The goal of Weight Stigma Awareness Week, September 23-27th, is to increase awareness of the pervasiveness and destructive nature of weight stigma, and provide effective strategies for combating it. The goal of this article is to inspire you to address weight stigma that you may direct toward yourself.

Early in our lives we’re “programmed” with certain beliefs that shape us. For example, if you were praised and supported as a child, you most likely developed a sense of confidence. But if you were repeatedly ridiculed, especially about your weight, deep down you may feel unworthy. This belief may erode your confidence even as you strive to do all the right things to lose weight.

A bright and energetic morning can quickly turn into a midday drag if you don’t have enough to eat. You might think that a second lunch is what you need, but a small, light snack is enough to do the trick. Planning ahead and packing your own will help steer you away from the calorie-dense vending machine. These 10 snacks are no fuss, easy-to-pack options that can be stored in your cabinet, drawer or bag so that you always have something available.

Quality nutrition and exercise information is essential for permanent weight loss. If you're motivated to release weight, you're probably reading books, surfing websites and listening to the experts. That's important, but you already have all the guidance you need to help you release weight.